The present invention relates generally to a container and, more particularly a stackable multiple-piece shipping and display container.
Multipurpose packaging is often used in the shipping and distribution of consumer goods and products. Secure packaging ensures the efficient, economical, and safe delivery of products through various distribution channels. However, once the packaged product arrives at a destination, it is often desirable to use the shipping container as a display container. This transition reduces the need for permanent display containers at the retail location. For example, in the delivery of foodstuffs to a grocery store, the transformation of the shipping container into a display container reduces time and effort that would otherwise be spent shelving the product.
However, it is often desirable to display multiple containers of packaged products, such as in large specialty displays, or for products that sell rapidly and would otherwise require repeated restocking. For example many retail stores often assemble displays of specialty products in large quantities to draw the attention of consumers. As such, it often becomes necessary to stack multiple packaging containers on top of one another to form these large displays. While stacking traditional sealed six-sided containers is relatively uncomplicated, this process becomes challenging when one is attempting to stack packages that have been transformed into display containers. That is to say, display containers such as trays, which lack either front panels, top panels or both front and top panels are ideal for allowing consumers easy access to the products contained therein. However these containers often lack significant structural integrity as the front and/or top walls have been removed. Accordingly, the vertical stacking of such display containers can result in the display containers leaning, falling or crushing one another, as well as the products contained therein.
Stacking is also a common form of display in big box stores or warehouse stores. In such settings, it is often common to receive large shipments of products contained in packaging containers that have been stacked directly onto wooden pallets. These pallets are easy to move around the store with a mechanical lift, and as such are often placed directly on the retail floor, for consumer resale, without first removing the containers from the pallets. In such situations, it is common to remove the plastic wrap or strapping that is used to secure the containers to the pallet and to one another during transit. Once this additional structural reinforcement has been removed, the stacked containers are again susceptible to leaning, falling or crushing one another, and the products contained therein.
In an attempt to provide stability in stacking display containers, some have resorted to inserting reinforcing panels along the center of the container. However, the presence of a centrally located panel, as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,728, significantly reduces the size of a product which can be shipped and displayed in the container. Alternatively, as exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,650, some have resorted to reinforcing the side walls of the container with multiple plies of corrugated material and vertically extending tabs designed to engage the recesses in the display container stacked above. However, the multiple plies of corrugated material increase the manufacturing cost of such containers significantly. This large amount of corrugated material requires an extremely large initial material blank, and is therefore more challenging to form into a folded container. Also, the presence of vertically protruding tabs limits the ability to stack containers lacking recesses in the bottom panel, specially designed for receiving the specific configuration of tabs.
The present invention is intended to solve these and other drawbacks in the prior art. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a container that is reinforced by two side panels formed of an inner and outer panel and an air cell disposed therein between. It is another object of the present invention to provide a container that can be constructed so as to be well suited for displaying consumer goods and products by having at least one open side, but which also provides sufficient structural integrity as to withstand vertical stacking of multiple display containers without experiencing instability. Furthermore, it is yet another object of the present invention to provide such a container that is formed from a blank having a relatively small footprint.